Related Articles
Are you a DIY expert? Or do you just love fixing things on your own? If you have experience and skills in DIY, there is no better way to share your knowledge than starting a blog. And the perks could be extremely gratifying—you can build an audience, monetize your content, sell related products, and attract paying customers to your DIY business by showcasing your expertise.
But if you are new to the world of blogging, you are likely wondering how to go about it. In this article, we will guide you through the essential activities to start your very own DIY blog in no time. Here is what you should do in five simple steps.
Choose a Niche
Being a jack of all trades is not the best strategy to adopt if you want to gain a following in a cluttered market with hundreds of DIY blogs. Carving out your own niche will make it easier to attract a loyal audience and build a name for yourself.
For example, your blog can cover tutorials for beginners, eco-friendly projects, DIY on a budget, home improvement ideas, or DIY crafts. These are highly focused areas that will have a captive audience looking for educational material and creative ideas.
Google Trends is an excellent site to identify trending niches in the do-it-yourself space based on specific geographic markets you want to target.
But ensure you have experience in the niche you finally select. It should also be an area you are passionate about.
Determine a Design Theme
Your blog needs to be attractive and memorable to grab readers’ eyes and keep them coming back. A brand identity will help you achieve that.
Start by selecting a name for your blog. It should represent your DIY niche. But it must also be unique and catchy to stand out from your competition. Brainstorm with friends to shortlist a few options. You can also get help from ChatGPT for naming ideas.
However, before you finalize, ensure the domain name is available, and it is not already trademark registered by another individual or entity. After all, you don’t want to confuse your audience or face a copyright infringement case from a competitor.
Next, consider how you can make your blog stand out. Here are a few tips:
- Design a unique logo. Keep it simple yet striking.
- Choose a color theme with primary and secondary colors. They should be reflected in the logo, too.
- Decide the tone of language. Do you want to be formal or conversational? Would you like a hint of humor? This is your brand voice. All the content in your blog, social media, newsletters, and emails should be in line with the voice you select.
Set Up the Blog
There are a variety of ways to create a blog. The easiest is using a blogging platform such as Medium. The more advanced option is setting up your own blog.
Blogging platforms
The main advantage of taking this route is the captive audience. These platforms already have thousands and even millions of followers patronizing their pages. So, building a following for your DIY blog will take far less work.
However, it is important to keep in mind their limitations before you sign up. Typically, they have fewer monetization and customization options than a standalone blog. You also have less control over your content. For instance, the platform could delete your posts or even close down your blog altogether if they feel you have violated their terms.
Having said that, the zero costs involved, ease of building an audience, and the sense of community you can often find on these sites make them extremely popular among bloggers.
Setting up your DIY blog is also easier on these platforms—just create an account, read their community guidelines, and start writing.
Creating your own blog
This option requires an initial and recurring investment. But it provides you with complete control over the design, customizations, and ownership of your site.
To start setting up, you first need to purchase the domain name. If you want to pursue blogging in the long term, consider buying several domain extensions, including .com, .net, and .org.
Then select a website builder; platforms such as WordPress and Wix are easy to use with their drag-and-drop features, templates, and plugins. You must also sign up for a hosting plan before publishing the blog.
Create Content
Based on your DIY niche, you now need to create the content. Optimizing your articles is important to make your site more discoverable through organic search results. This is where keyword research becomes useful. Moz, Ubersuggest, and similar tools can get you up to speed on this.
Once you identify the keywords and keyphrases, create a monthly content plan. Make it interesting with a mix of formats. This may mean discussing the latest trends, sharing ideas, and creating listicles and how-to articles with long-form content. Make sure to add videos, GIFs, infographics, and images to make them engaging, and think about using tools to edit videos smoothly.
Your blog is essentially a website. So, consider how to organize content to make it easier for your readers to navigate the published articles. For example, if you want to blog about DIY home decor, you can segment articles by room type—from bedroom and kitchen to living room and bathroom.
Start Promoting
When you are a blogger, creating content is not enough. You must promote your posts to drive traffic to your site.
Maintaining a robust social media presence is essential for this. Joining online communities and forums will also help build an audience. In addition, you can use guest-blogging opportunities and podcasts to create awareness and increase footfall.
Another option is building partnerships. For example, if your focus is DIY home improvement, find builders and interior designers on Leadar and explore cross-promotion opportunities with them.
All these will naturally take time to show quantifiable results. So, be persistent and blog consistently.
To Wrap Up
Blogging could be quite a rewarding pursuit when you have done the groundwork. If you are thinking of starting a DIY blog, narrowing your focus to a specific niche is essential. Creating a unique identity is also imperative to make it stand out.
Once you set up the blog, either on a blogging platform or as a standalone site, conduct keyword research and create a monthly content plan. Then promote your articles to drive in traffic and build a substantial audience so you can start monetizing your DIY blog.
